Gulls Biweekly Report 6

By Thomas Harrington

The San Diego Gulls played five games over the past two weeks and had a record of 1-2-2. At this point in the season, the playoffs are all but out of reach. The goal now should be to stay out of last place in the division, something that they should be able to accomplish as they have a four point lead on the Henderson Silver Knights.

San Diego started out by hosting the Ontario Reign. Ontario opened the scoring just 21 seconds into the contest, but Ryan Carpenter tied the game late in the period. However, the Reign scored again and held a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. In the second, Yegor Sidorov tied the game with his ninth goal of the season. Ontario retook the lead a couple minutes later but Carpenter scored his second of the game to tie the game again. Neither team scored in the third period or overtime and the game went to a shootout. Sidorov scored the only goal of the shootout and the Gulls won 4-3. San Diego then hosted the Bakersfield Condors. In the first, the Condors took a 2-0 lead, but Jan Mysak, Nathan Gaucher, and Sam Colangelo all scored in the second to give the Gulls a 3-2 lead. In the third, Bakersfield scored three straight goals and won 5-3.

The Gulls then hosted the San Jose Barracuda. San Jose scored the first goal of the game, but Colangelo tied the game with less than a minute to go in the first period. Nico Myatovic scored the only goal of the second, but San Jose tied the game early in the third. Mysak scored on a penalty shot but the Barracuda tied the game again and the contest went to overtime. San Jose found the goal in the extra session and won 4-3. The Gulls then traveled to Ontario to face the Reign. Neither team scored in the first, but Ontario took the lead in the second. Mysak tied the game, scoring a goal in his third straight game. In the third, the Reign scored three straight goals and won 4-1.

For their final game, the Gulls traveled to Coachella Valley to take on the Firebirds. Coachella Valley scored the only goal of the first period and the only goal of the second period. For much of the third period, neither team scored. Then, with less than four minutes to go in the contest, Sasha Pastujov made it a one-goal game. Less than a minute later, Colangelo scored to send the game to overtime. In the extra session, the Firebirds scored on the powerplay and won 3-2.

The Gulls will play five games over the next two weeks and all five games will be at home. They’ll start out by hosting the Iowa Wild and then the Tucson Roadrunners for a pair of games. Iowa will visit again, and then the homestand will conclude with the Calgary Wranglers coming to town.

Nikita Nesterenko was recently called up to the Ducks, and he made his NHL season debut against Tampa Bay. Other San Diego forwards are scoring more than he is right now, but the Ducks probably wanted a more veteran presence from San Diego, as opposed to a younger player like Colangelo, Sidorov, Mysak, or Pastujov. On defense, the Ducks are healthy and don’t need much help, but if they do at some point, I could see either Tyson Hinds or Tristan Luneau getting the call.

With the Calder Cup Playoffs essentially out of reach, the rest of San Diego’s season should be all about development. That means giving younger players like Colagenlo, Pastujov, Sidorov, Luneau, Mysak, Judd Caulfield, Josh Lopina, and others more ice time and more responsibility. While it’s disappointing to see San Diego miss the playoffs again, if they can develop Anaheim’s prospects into future NHL players, then the season won’t be a total loss.

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January 8th, 2025